Vulnerable patients

The problem

As we emerge from the pandemic deep oral health inequalities are set to widen. The burden will fall on patients with complex needs.

The solution

We gather the evidence on how failed policies and underfunding hurt our patients. Where barriers to care have emerged, we show how they can be taken down.

Our impact

We led the debate on the crisis in NHS dentistry, securing parliamentary inquiries and pledges of reform from government. We have championed pioneering preventive programmes for children in Wales and Scotland and pressed their expansion across the UK.

We have led the calls for a revolution in dentistry in our care homes, that has already seen improvements in training and policies. We have exposed the impact NHS charges have on those on modest incomes, that have left 1 in 4 adults delaying or avoiding needed care.

We have lifted the lid on the heavy-handed system of NHS fines in England that have punished innocent, often vulnerable, patients and their carers.